The past two years saw a seismic shift in the way most people work. At-home work might have begun out of necessity, as workplaces scrambled to react to a novel virus, but it has become a new kind of normal now.
Company owners, seeing the money they can save on commercial space, are starting to view working from home not as a response to the pandemic – but as an opportunity to rethink their company model.
This all happened rather quickly.
Although working from home has its undisputed perks (cutting out that commute is chief among them), it also has drawbacks. Namely, working from home has blurred the lines between work and home.
Whereas before, going to the office was a natural part of your daily routine, nestled somewhere between your morning workout and afternoon relaxation time, now, you may find it more challenging to care for your health and wellbeing.
In other words, it’s more important than ever to pay attention to your health. If you’re one of the many people who shifted to at-home work over the last two years, consider the following tips to help you stay physically and mentally healthy.
Get Proper Rest
As readers of this website know very well, proper rest is an essential part of overall health and wellbeing. Without proper rest, your brain can’t function at its peak, your immune system suffers, and your physical health may take a nosedive.
The best tip to offer here is to create a clear division between workspace and rest space. Do not work from your bedroom if you can help it; the only association you should have with your bedroom is as a place of rest. And to the extent you’re able, limit your screen time in the evenings. Leave your work laptop or phone outside of the bedroom.
Take Frequent Breaks
There’s a reason the general workday structure includes coffee breaks and meal breaks: People function better when they take intermittent moments of respite. Research backs this fact up, as studies show that frequent breaks help people “recharge,” boosting their productivity and limiting the compounding effects of stress.
During these breaks, you should give yourself a chance to relax. You can play online games like solitaire online to unwind.
Work burnout and stress can be detrimental to your health, so be sure to take frequent breaks. If it helps, you can systematize your break schedule by following a Pomodoro Method (essentially a repeating cycle of intermittent work and rest periods).
Try New Superfoods
Diet plays a critical role in general health – that’s a fairly well-established fact at this point. Getting your daily dose of vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, and healthy fats can keep you feeling your best (even as the lunchtime temptation to order something unhealthy lingers).
But consider tacking on superfoods to your daily diet to see an appreciable boost in overall wellbeing. For instance, functional mushrooms – popular in the wellness industry right now – have been shown in studies to potentially support a healthy immune system, improve your cognitive performance and regulate your stress response.
Start the day with a lion’s mane mushroom smoothie to help stimulate your focus, and reach for a relaxing mug of reishi mushroom coffee at the end of your day.
Designate Time for Exercise
Together, a healthy diet and exercise form the essential pillars of physical and mental wellbeing. If you observe one but not the other, you have an incomplete health regimen.
But working out while working from home can be tricky. It’s challenging to leave the house for exercise when you have no other reason to leave the house. Here, again, is why routine is so important. To stay self-motivated, consider designating time each day (or every other day) for exercise.
Humans crave structure and routine, so building your active time into your schedule may help you stay on track.
The exercise can take whatever form you prefer: at-home yoga, runs around the neighborhood, visits to the gym, or even a regular salsa dancing class!
Optimize Your Workspace for Ergonomics
Let’s explore spinal health briefly. Moving from the office to home, you might wonder why your posture and muscles are suffering. It all has to do with ergonomics.
Most companies fit their workplaces with ergonomic equipment like office chairs, keyboard wrist rests, and, in some offices, standing desks – luxuries that your home office lacks. Luckily, you can correct your home workspace (and your posture, by extension) by buying the products listed above.
Ask your work to help pay for the equipment (citing productivity gains), but if they won’t, you should still consider getting these items as an investment in your health.
Don’t let your health slip away from you as you make the shift to permanent at-home work. Just because your days are no longer structured around the office, it doesn’t mean your days have to be structureless. Get a good night’s rest, start the day with a superfood mushroom tea, take frequent breaks, build exercise into your schedule, and keep your spine healthy and happy with ergonomic office equipment.
